Software

The Fragpedal Elite ship with a software application called GWS Smart Device Configuration Utility. It is a simple executable which can be started when needed. The pedals store the latest configuration and work without the software. The application is just needed to set and upload the desired function. This means that there is no additional program running in the background while you are playing your favorite game and even if you take the pedals to a friend to play there, no software is needed as long as you do not want to change the settings.


Upon starting the application, a loading screen is displayed. After a few seconds, I received an error message, shown above. This refers to a missing file. The CD includes a RAR file containing three files: comdlg32.ocx, MSCOMCTL.OCX & TABCTL32.ocx. The files specified in the above error message need to be copied over to your \windows\system32 folder for the software to function properly. I was given the following explanation about the missing files:

• We have an Installshield installer for our Configuration Utility software. The Configuration Utility is a program written in a Microsoft programming language. The Configuration Utility is not needed for operation of the Fragpedal, its needed for programming it. Once the Fragpedal is programmed it works without special drivers or CU on any OS, but the native programming envivonment is Windows (Mac OS10 coming out soon).
• Around February 2007 we began to get a few customer support requests concerning a new error message that shows up when attempting to open the newly installed CU. The Installshield program handles the normal installation of the application just fine. We researched the issue and discovered that for some reason, a bug may have been introduced in the XP update procedure, which was that if the PC being updated wasn't running Microsoft Office, some critical Microsoft support files MIGHT BE DELETED. A small fraction of users seem to run into the problem, and we are working with Installshield and Microsoft to get this cleared up. Right now both Installshield and us are waiting for a MS patch to fix this.
• We are also in the process of a major re-design of the CU for the Fragpedal for Windows XP and Vista customers as well.

So it seems, that the problems started appearing in February 2007, working fine up to that point. After copying the missing files over, the Configuration Utility worked perfectly fine for me as well. Nonetheless, it would be good if Good Will Systems can try to control any unhandled exceptions the program may throw, giving the user a straight forward message and then closing the application properly if needed.


The software is divided into five major areas using large tabs. The first one is called "Button Settings" and should be the most important for the normal gamer. Here you can set the function of each button. The Configuration Utility will let you assign virtually anything to these. You can use a button as a SHIFT function to activate secondary function on the remaining ones. A button can also be set to have two, alternating functions. This means you could set a button to throw a smoke grenade when it is hit once, followed by a frag once the button is hit again. Mouse and scroll functions can be set as well. You could scroll through weapons with your feet or fire a weapon. The possibilities are nearly endless. The only missing aspect are entire button macros. Setting one of these buttons for a series of key strokes does not seem to be possible.


Good Work Systems has solved this problem with their own programming environment, called PAL™ (short for Peripheral Action Language) which can put an unlimited number of customized, pre-programmed mouse and keyboard commands on a single button press. So while you are not able to add such a command at the first tab, these can be created under the PAL builder tab. Just as the name suggests, these can be created easily and you do not require any programming experience. If you want to work in an advanced environment of PAL, you can do so under the PAL Editor tab.


The last area gives you control over any profiles you have saved. This means that you can actually have different configurations for different applications. The Good Work Systems Configuration Utility may be somewhat intimidating at first, but the features and amount of customization with the system implemented is unprecedented and you will be hard pressed to find a real, syntax based programming language embedded in any other mouse or input device.